Dresses

BlingBride12

Hello Ladies! : ) I'm just curious where everyone has gotten their dresses from....any good recommendations for the Milwaukee area or close to the Milwaukee area? Thanks for your help!

gundy21

Got mine (a Maggie Sottero) at Savvy Birde in Brookfield.  Loved the girls out there.

deezidee04

I went to several dress shops during my search. I'll break them down for you.

Eva's Bridal (Oak Creek) - My first dress shop. They have a really nice selection and the prices are very good. Downside? If you find a dress you like, they refuse to tell you the designer of the gown until you put money down. I was very close to deciding on a dress from this shop, but I feel the practice of "tag-ripping" is shady and I took my business elsewhere.

David's Bridal - Not much to say here. David's is good for price, not great for customer service. The shops are always crazy-busy, and I find the salesgirls to be kind of cranky for the most part. Also, the gowns aren't of the greatest quality.

Savvy Bride (Brookfield) - LOVED this shop! So adorable and charming. The salesgirls were fantastic, I felt truly taken care of at Savvy Bride. They have a great selection of well-known designer gowns. I had a great experience here, but did not end up purchasing a gown because the only one I liked was a little above my price range, and even then I didn't feel like it was "the dress."

Kay Bridal (Wauwatosa) - Here is where I found "THE dress"! I didn't have the highest expectations for this shop. It's small, it's different. When you try on gowns, the owner Lisa pretty much shuts down the shop so it's just you and your party. I kind of liked that, it makes you feel like a VIP. It's a little different from bigger, well-known bridal shops because she gives you a catalog with pictures of the gowns and you pick out which ones you like. She pulls the dresses off the rack and sets them up in the fitting room for you to try. You and your party are not allowed to touch the sample gowns. At first I thought this was strange, but now I am SO happy she does it that way. The gown I bought ended up being a sample (I got my designer dream dress for 50% off--right in my budget!) and it's in great condition. I currently have a seamstress working on bringing it down to my size. Great experience overall at Kay Bridal.

I would also suggest looking at Christy's Bridal in Burlington. I didn't shop for my gown there but did go in for bridesmaid dresses. I liked the staff a lot and they have an excellent designer selection for wedding gowns.

Hope this helps!

Tiger_Tammer

We went to Stone Manor Bridal in Cedarburg. It is a very small quaint place but the ladies are wonderful!
http://www.stonemanorbridal.com/

brit_bell90

I bought my Maggie Sottero at The Bridal Event in Appleton, I love love love it there! Staff is great, such great dresses too! 

jcrew_shopaholic

I initially found my at Stone Manor Bridal in Cedarburg, but purchased my dress at Eva's Bridal on account that they offer price matches.  Heim's Bridal was offering a sale on all of their dresses but their store gets HORRIBLE recommendations!  Stone Manor wouldn't honor their price, but Eva's Bridal would!  I ended up saving a lot of money by price shopping around the area.  People at both Stone Manor and Eva's were very nice and helpful though, I would recommend both!

AurorasEnvy

I also went to several dress shops:

Hartland Bridal (Hartland) - first place I went, and I wouldn't recommend it.  We received virtually no help in selecting dresses, and as they were all stuffed into bags I had no idea which ones were which styles, etc.  Very small shop, too.

Savvy Bride (Brookfield) - This is where I am going to buy my dress!  Very cute shop, plenty of room for guests you bring, and so very helpful.  Our saleslady knew it was my first day out, and that it was very unlikely she was going to sell a dress to me that day, but she did a fantastic job & was super helpful without being pressuring or overbearing.  I am going back to get my dress from them!  They will also price match anywhere else.

Eva's Bridal (Oak Creek) - Didn't care much for it.  They apparently don't take appointments, so it was super crowded when I went, had to wait for a dressing room, where me and everyone with me crowded into because there was no place else to stand outside of it without being the way of someone else.  The dress I wanted to buy was $90 cheaper here, but the extra $90 more than compensated for the great experience I had at Savvy.  Not to mention the saleslady here was a little pushy.  They price match too.

Christy's Bridal (Burlington) - Also very cute shop in downtown Burlington.  Very nice saleslady, apparently they don't work on commission there so there was no pushy sales pitch...she even told me that she loved the dress I was thinking about buying (which was at another store) and that she would have a hard time topping it.  I know several people who have bought here & had good experiences.

Germaine's (Lake Geneva) - Unique shopping experience as they have all their bridal gowns on mannikins, and you tag the ones you want to try on with a clip.  Very helpful & nice ladies there as well.  Didn't seem to have as much selection as other stores, and seemed a little pricier but they did offer me 20% off since they did not have the dress I wanted as a sample, which would have brought the price down to what it was at Savvy or Eva's.  

In short, I would have bought from Savvy, Christy's, or Germaine's.  I would not recommend Eva's or Hartland Bridal.

BlingBride12

Thank you all very much for your reviews! This will help me a TON when I go looking. I'm for sure going to go Savvy Bride! Thanks!

newmrsdayton

I second Savvy Bridal and Stone Manor, great service and selection at both. I also really liked Beratti bridal in Brookfield, I almost got my dress there. I ended up getting my dress at Amelishan Bridal in Hubertus, they didn't have a ton of dresses I liked but they ad one I LOVED and thats all that counts! They also have a great selection of bridesmaid dresses. Both Beratti and Amelishan are very open and feel impersonal at first but the service is excellent in both places! I really loved my salesgirl Jessica from Beratti, she picked an amazing style for me and the dress I ended up getting was very similar. Amelishan also gives 15%  off if you buy a dress on the first visit, so I would go there last.

msteph82

I bought my first dress at Eva's and they were fantastic.  Well, Beth was.  Maria was not. 

I bought my second dress online. :-)

jberg134

I bought my first dress in Madison at Vera's House of Bridals.  I had a great experience.

The second dress came from Heim's Bridal in Greenfield.  We got very little customer service, but there was a dress on clearnace w/in my price range that I decided was "the dress".  I'm taking the dress to Eva's for alterations as Heim's has really bad reviews in that area.

I ordered my custom veil through Eva's.